The Bacchae, pages 179-200 Summary

The land shakes with thunder and lightning, and the chorus is terrified. Dionysus calls to them from the palace, and they call back to him. He orders an earthquake on the land, and the palace begins to fall. Dionysus calls down lightning and sets the palace on fire. Coryphaeus welcomes Dionysus and Coryphaeus asks how he escaped. Instead of Dionysus, there was a bull in the stable that was to be Dionysus' prison. When the palace shook with Dionysus' earthquakes and was set fire by Dionysus' lightning, Pentheus rushed around shouting for water, but they could not stop the blaze. Pentheus, fearing Dionysus's escape, thought he killed him, but it was just a phantom created by the god. The palace is in ruins, and Dionysus is free. Pentheus enters, horrified at Dionysus's escape. He asks how Dionysus...